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Evan is the owner of My Journey to Millions which was started to track his journey from a broke debt ridden law school graduate to building a positive balance. Need more Evan? Follow him on Twitter, Contact him or get new posts directly to your email

I hate the whole congress-woman\fire-woman\post-woman crap. “-Man” is just a suffix not a literal man. The definition of the suffix is “having the nationality or job mentioned” per cambridge dictionary. People who think otherwise are too sensitive for my tastes.

Brandy – it’s not “just a suffix”. A woman who does a job doesn’t want to continually be called “man”. Whether it’s Chairman, fireman, policeman, whatever. What’s wrong with being neutral instead of using wording that assumes the person doing the job is male?

This is actually a HUGE misconception. A firefighter is actually quite different from a fireman. A fireman is somebody who starts and/or maintains fire, usually in a boiler of some sort. It was a common position in the times of steam trains. Firefighters are people who put out fires. Ray Bradbury’s book Fahrenheit 451 nods to this distinction by naming all the firemen thusly; as they were setting books on fire, not putting fires out.

While the history lesson is interesting and I never recognized that in Bradbury’s book, still and yet, modern usage is that a “fireman” is someone who puts out fires. You ask any 6 year old kid what a fireman is and I’ll bet you my next paycheck that not ONE of them says “someone who starts a fire in a boiler” and instead talks about firehouses, hats, big red trucks, fire poles, and dalmations. 🙂

My Journey to Millions

My Journey to Millions is an 8 year old personal finance blog focused on topics including basic personal finance issues, advanced insurance planning, high net worth estate planning. In addition, there is a particular focus on dividend growth investing and option trading.